A Red Dawn Over A Crimson Sea
by Notsae
Summary: The world disappeared in a flash of light; leaving nothing but echoing laughter in its place. But a crimson dawn will rise again; in a very different yet oh so similar world.
1. Dawn Breaks

**Okay, some background on the nature of the AU for the Naruto world, the changes to One Piece will be shown as the story progress so I won't tell you here.**

 **One: Madara was just a megalomaniacal maniac who wanted to rule the world regardless of the consequences. This is not because I dislike his character or think this was genuinely his goal, but because otherwise things would not have worked out as they did in this stories background.**

 **Two: Zetsu had amnesia, both sides completely forgot about Kaguya and Madara. Madara manipulated Zetsu into joining him while Zetsu still thought he was a child. When Zetsu did remember Kaguya, he no longer cared. Zetsu still refers to when Madara found him as his childhood, because he feels that may as well have been when he was "born". Kaguya can rot for all he cares.**

 **Three: Both Nagato and Obito were under genjutsu by Madara the whole time and had their minor (in this story) desire for peace and to get their loved ones back amplified to absolutely insane levels. The Akatsuki were just mercenaries before Madara came along (using Obito) and mind-fucked Nagato.**

 **Four: Itachi killed his family because he just fucking hated them and went temporarily more insane than usual, not out of loyalty to Konoha. In the process he implanted Shisui's eyes (yes, both of them) into himself. Because they're Eternal Mangekyo he can use Kotoamatsukami twice a day; though he'll be blind in one eye for each use until it recharges.**

 **Five: The war dragged on a lot longer and the Akatsuki actually killed a lot of people before going down, none of them had any heel-face turns near death (everyone Nagato killed during the invasion stayed dead), they all died the immoral bastards they were. Also, due to the increased length and brutality of the war, even the indoctrinated/brainwashed and utterly insane members grew somewhat closer; going from a loosely bound collection of near strangers to a band of brothers.**

 **Six: Orochimaru's betrayal was faked so that he could create a force not officially associated with the Akatsuki. He pretended to be an enemy and they pretended to hunt him. He created an army of mutated mindless creatures and released them on the world before being killed by Kabuto. And resurrecting himself. And being killed again. And resurrecting himself. And- You get it.**

 **Seven: Obito has the Eternal Mangekyo. Madara gave it to him when he started his plan in order to make sure he didn't become useless before he could resurrect him. Do to the display by Shisui he can use all techniques of the Mangekyo; though he doesn't yet know that. I'm giving Madara's transplanted eye some rather bullshit upgrades, because Madara is total haxs and everyone knows it. My excuse, if you really want one in a admitted AU, for Madara not using any of his haxs powers is he's to obscenely arrogant and haddn't used them for so long he kinda forgot about them. Plus, he hadn't trained with them and would only be able to use them once or twice before suffering for it.**

 **I know this all seems rather strange and these changes are somewhat large but the story simply wouldn't work if they weren't there.**

 **Disclaimer: Not my Property.**

* * *

 **Dawn Breaks**

The war was over and there was finally peace.

The only problem was that no one was there to enjoy it. Madara, to Obito's shock, had decided that if he couldn't rule the world, there was no point in it existing. He had slaughtered half the world before falling to his knees from the sheer number of wounds. His last act was to force the Juubi to release all of its power in one devastating detonation; destroying itself and a good chunk of the universe. The last thing that Obito saw was the malevolent smile on Madara's face, even with the numerous blades piercing through him, he still laughed as he executed the world.

 **Obito's Perspective**

Air came to me in ragged gasps. The first thing I felt was confusion. The second was pain. It felt like my whole body was on fire.

"Oi, looks like Tobi's here two." a familiar voice spoke, drawing my attention. My eyes opened slowly, the sun's light forcing them shut for a moment. In the brief moment I had them open I noticed that my Tobi mask was somehow restored.

"Don't worry, the pain fades quick enough." Was that… Kisame? I managed to blink open my eyes, thankfully I still had the one I stole from Nagato even with my one eyed mask. I was glad I had decided to use so many seals on the damn thing; one of its many useful little features was being see through to the one wearing it. It also works like a gasmask!

I groaned as I managed to lever myself into a sitting position, powerful eyes whipping every which way, trying to figure out where I am and how I got here. My investigation ground to a halt as I noticed who else was here. The entirety of the Akatsuki was arranged around me.

"So, since _apparently_ you were in charge the whole time, any idea how the fuck we got here, yeah?" My eyes shot over to Deidara, before closing. How _did_ we get here? Was this… the pure world? No, we were anything but pure. A band of mass murdering mercenaries and revolutionaries, making it into heaven? Laughable.

I stood up, noticing we were on the shores of a beach with a tropical jungle nearby. "Is this an island?"

Kakuzu nodded, "And a small one two; this thing's barely two miles wide at any point and according to Kisame, there are no nearby islands."

I nodded in acknowledgement, staring out to the distant horizon. I looked back at the organization I had made; seeing everyone at the peek of their health, some where at a age I had never seen them at. Nagato even had both eyes, and wasn't five foot eleven inches into the grave! A smile appeared on my hidden face, perhaps this wasn't such a bad thing. There was nothing like going to war with the whole world together to form bonds. Even this band of psychopathic monsters had forged bonds strong as steel under the fires of omnipresent war. My mind felt clearer than it had been since before I met… Madara… That fucker put a genjutsu on me!

As I grumbled about egomaniacle asshats, Hidan, having grown bored, decided to voice his displeasure. "Jashin damn it! What the fuck are we gonna do? We're stuck on some shitty fuckin' island in the middle of fuck knows! Grrrah, Tobi, what the fu-" Kakuzu helpfully shut him up… via decapitation; unfortunately he was back to bitching in moments, while Kakuzu stitched his head back on.

"Hey! There's a ship on the horizon!" We all whipped our heads around to confirm that, yes there was a ship approaching. It was a large ship, evidently some sort of war ship judging by the sheer amount of cannons on it, flying a white flag with what looked like two connecting crescents crossed at the connecting point by a wrench, "MARINES" was written beneath the symbol.

I grinned, "Looks like we just found a way out of here. We're gonna "Ask" them for a ride." I raised my left hand, My grin growing as I silently pulled the ship towards us via gravitic manipulation granted to me by my (apparently no longer) stolen Rinnegan. I noticed that unlike before, I no longer felt significant strain from the use of my new eye.

I laughed maliciously when I heard the screams of these "marines" as their ship flew through the air at dangerous speeds, causing large waves from the speed of their movement. I made sure not to drag them all the way to me, not wanting to smash the ship to pieces. Strangely, everyone on board had almost no chakra; barely enough for the Sharingan to detect, though the Rinnegan had no trouble.

All of us leapt aboard as soon as it was close enough, attacking the shockingly weak sailors. Within seconds every marine was lying dead at our feet, their blood soaking into the floorboards.

Hidan licked the blood off his scythe, kicking a dead marine off the railing with a contemptuous snort. "Fucking weaklings. Barely even worthy of sacrificing." Itachi's face was as blank as usual and his reaction was predictably minor, merely wiping the blood from his blade with a "Hn" of agreement. Kakuzu merely grunted, rifling through the dead men's pockets for valuables; though considering we had no idea where we even were, what counted as valuable I had no idea.

Crunching sounds drew my gaze to a surprising sight; Zetsu had apparently come with us (though I hadn't initially seen him amongst us on the beach) and was eating one of the dead marines. "Zetsu?" I called out to the strange looking man.

He stiffened, turning slowly to look at me. Zetsu had always been a bit skittish, though he hid it well; him being here after he sided with Madara even when I turned on him must have him thinking I was going to split him right down his pigmentation change. "{Sigh}. He tricked me. He… **Found me when I was very young.** Told me that no matter what the other kids say, I was simply, different. **He spoke with words of poisoned honey.** Told me everything would be alright. **I think I was a test to see if manipulation could be more effective than genjutsu if used on child; turns out it was**."

Orochimaru spoke up, "He got you as child? I've used the same technique to get test subjects. A few compassionate words and a gentle smile and naive children will be eating out of your hands." He drew up the same shockingly real looking (mostly) false compassion to comfort his comrade, " It's not your fault. Madara was a master manipulator, his genjutsu wouldn't have been nearly as effective if he wasn't, and you were just a kid. You couldn't have been expected to resist the charm of such a man at such a vulnerable age. At that age any of us," he glanced at Itachi. " _Most_ of us would have fallen for it just like you did at that age." Orochimaru was a master manipulator, even when he was using it to help what could be called a friend. Even the most monstrous amongst us had developed stronger bonds then they had ever had with us.

I sighed, "I don't hate you Zetsu. I hate Madara. But he's not here, so I can't kill him." I stared silently at him for a moment, unsettling him. "And there's no point killing you for falling for his bullshit." I nodded decisively. "You are a member of the Akatsuki." He smiled, even the black, mouthless side of his face had split into a somewhat disturbingly toothy grin. I saw faint traces of tears in his yellow eyes.

I smiled back at him beneath my mask before the loud groaning of the ship drew my attention. I looked over the railing and saw the huge amount of boards bulging outwards. "Huh, evidently I don't have quite as much control over my rinnegan as you Nagato." he looked over at my and raised an eyebrow before walking over to see what had caused me to admit inferiority.

He leaned over the rail next to me, staring blankly at buckled boards. "You scuttled the ship." he turned to me, his expression not changing as he stared into my eye(s).

"I didn't scuttle it!" I protested, definitely not childishly _at all_. I sighed, turning to Zetsu. "Zetsu, you have better control with the wood release, can you fix the ship?"

" **Bitch, I'm no shipwright!** Probably, yeah." he had jumped off the ship to get a closer look at the damage. Evidently, at least half of him was back to form. "The damage is pretty serious. **But nothing important was damaged, as far as I can tell."** he put his hands on the damaged wood, pushing wood chakra into it and slowly molding it back into shape. " **The wood is shockingly receptive to chakra.** As if it had never felt it before. **It has a startlingly low amount of nature chakra."**

I blinked, looking at the wood of the ship while Kisame used some minor water jutsu to clean the blood of the ship. He was going to wash away the bodies until Orochimaru told him he was planning to study them to see why they had so little chakra.

As I stared at the rail my Rinnegan suddenly felt strange and I could see the nature chakra (or lack there of) in the wood. It hed less chakra than plastic! I doubted Sasori could even make puppets out of it! "Hey Sasori, could you make puppets out of wood that has no chakra?"

He blinked, his blank expression unchanging. "I've never heard of such a thing, but I probably could. Lesser puppeteers couldn't, but I would attempt to saturate it in my chakra. Either the end result would be better than a normal wooden puppet or wouldn't function at all." Huh, shows me to assume what a specialist can and can't do in regards to their field.

I watched Zetsu work for a while, seeming to slowly smooth the wood back into its former shape. When he was done there weren't any boards, simply a slab of wood looking stronger than it had been before; it seemed to have a healthy glow (though that may just be the increase in chakra). The strange feeling in my Rinnegan faded and this apparent new ability to see nature chakra shut off. I would have to investigate this occurrence further while we sailed to… somewhere. This ship was proof that at the very least civilization existed, possibly past tense, but regardless there was certainly land.

"Alright, time to head out and find out where the fuck we are! ...Does anyone actually know how to use a ship?" Everyone groaned.

Konan spoke up quietly, "We don't really need to know how to use a ship; we could simply use jutsu, or preferably seals, to put wind in the sails and use a similar system in the water to speed us up."

I blinked, turning to her in mild surprise. That was a good idea… "Sasori-"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it." I would have to ask him to teach me seals. He climbed up the mast and started painting on numerous little, interconnecting seals.

I started exploring the ship, looking for anything of interest (I'd leave value to Kakuzu). As I was going through the drawers of what I guessed was the captain's desk my sharp ears detected a small noise coming from a nearby cabinet. I turned to the noise, noticing it grow very quiet as soon as I looked at the cabinet. I grinned beneath my mask, silently approaching. I stood in front of what I suspected was someone trying to hide. I wrenched the door open, staring down at the quivering figure. The strange, purple haired boy leapt up and broke their fist on my jaw… or would have had I not instinctively gone incorporeal.

They ran through me and attempted to flee before a black metal rod smacked them upside the head, dropping them like a sack of dead babies. A grin split my face, "Orochimaru! Stop fucking corpses and get down here! It's a _little boy!_ "

Loud grumbling, vehement denials of corpse fucking and pedophilia, and mild insults flowed back to me as he trudged down the stairs; deliberately stomping with every step. "What is- You found a live one?"

I smirked, "Yup, and you can do whatever you like with him… so long as you get him to tell us where we are." He agreed immediately, setting upon the child with a positively evil grin. I whistled as I walked away; sure I could have mind-fucked the kid to find out, but I might as well let Orochimaru have some fun.

I arrived back on deck to find we had set sail. I looked around, spotting Itachi going through some katas with what appeared to be his brothers blade. I watched him for a while, figuring he got the blade the same way I got my mask. I noticed that he seemed to move far more easily, seeming to be lighter than I had ever known him to be. I pondered it for a moment, turning to watch the idle training of my comrades before it suddenly hit me. Itachi doesn't have lung cancer anymore! Or tuberculosis. Or whatever the fuck he had.

I grinned as I walked up to him, phasing through his slashes. "How's it feel to be free of illness for the first time in years?"

He looked at me, blinked, and gave a faint smile, "Wonderful." he whispered. My smile grew as I patted him on the shoulder and walked away.

Everyone spent their time training while we set off in a random direction. We had learned that even though we're some of the baddest motherfuckers out there doesn't mean we can slack off. I was testing my rinnegan, as I had not had the opportunity to do so before taking on the whole fucking world. I had managed to get Sasori to teach me what he knew if seals, but had made little progress. Sasori being an absolutely terrible teacher certainly didn't help.

Two days later we saw land on the horizon. I stared of the bow, frowning at the distant island. Orochimaru had come back with rather disturbing news; the elemental nations were never even heard of. We were either so far away that our lands had not been seen… or we were on another planet/in another dimension. Regardless, we needed food (Kisame's water affinity was strong enough that he could filter out salt and other unpleasant things), alcohol, medical supplies (mostly for Orochimaru), better information about where we are (the kid hadn't known much… nor lasted very long), and someone who actually knew how to use a damn ship! Eventually we would need some customisation; the Akatsuki can't be in some generic ship!

We docked the ship as best we could, only slightly almost crashing into literally everything… including ourselves. People gave us strange looks as we departed the ship, most likely expecting marines to come off a marine vessel. Ignoring the strange staring, we headed out to find the various things we needed. We had gathered everything but knowledge on who to properly use a ship when the marines finally realised something wasn't right.

I was simply minding my own business, silently collecting information about this apparent new world I found myself in when a _rude motherfucker_ decided to accost me. He and his three buddies stood in my way, blades drawn and demanding me to "Surrender in the name of Justice!". Another decided to be less eloquent and said, "Get on your knees!"

I told 'em, "I'm not your mother last night!" and they took exception to that. Charging with a roar they swung their blades, aiming to cripple or kill. They were quite surprised when I yawned, not bothering to block or dodge. As their blades phased through me, I moved; phasing my hands through each of their chests faster than they could see before leaping away. I swirled around in mid air landing facing them with a malevolent grin on my face. I spread my arms out at my sides, "You're already dead." I proclaimed, turning to walk away. I whistled as I formed a half ram seal with my right hand, ignoring them as they got their wits together and charged. They didn't make it ten feet before they turned into a fine red mist, leaving only their lower bodies to fall to the ground. I grinned, "You know, I think I finally understand what Deidara means." I could _feel_ his smug smirk from here.

I had worked with him and Konan (who had apparently forgiven me for murdering her) to better capitalize on my intangibility and they had a stunning idea; if I let go of something it's no longer intangible, right? So if I let go of something _inside_ of someone, it would stay there. So why not plant bombs inside people?

I had planted paper bombs (made by Konan and Improved by Deidara (man knew nothing of seals, but when it came to explosions he could do anything)) directly on their hearts. I had different varieties; some, like the ones I just used, were single target. Others were multi target (mostly Deidara's work) and some even had different types of blasts. Incendiary, shrapnel, concussive, poison, acid, fucking anything! The most terrifying thing he gave me was a portable version of his micro bombs, with which I could vaporise anything that breaths. I now carried a virtual arsenal of explosives and projectiles (though i'm sure Deidara had more in the way of pure explosives) on my person and in my dimension at all times. I had lately been working on reducing the amount of signs needed for jutsu and had everyone else doing the same.

Getting Deidara to work on bombs with a _smaller_ blast had been… interesting. But once he got going I saw him turning into a goddamn chemist/seal master before long. The man's bombs were truly works of art. Though Sasori's puppetry was no less impressive, just more subtle.

What I had heard while I wondered about was disturbing. We were definitely not on the same planet, perhaps not even the same dimension. From what I could tell we were on a primarily oceanic planet with islands of various sizes dotting it. There were three main factions; the powerful, diverse, but completely disorganised and infighting rife pirates. The well organised but generally weak save for the upper echelons marines. And the mysterious and exceptionally violent revolutionaries. All of whom were assholes by the sounds of it. There were also rumors of people with strange powers granted to them by objects called "Devil Fruits". The powers ranged from the ridiculous to the awe inspiring. The only apparent cost of these Devil Fruits was that who ever consumed one could never swim again and would be severely weakened by a substance known as Seastone. Despite the grim perspectives on ever going home (not like we really had one to begin with) I grinned at the thought of the sheer chaos we could introduce… and the opportunity we were presented with! If I could find this "One Piece" said to make you the pirate king (possibly just declaring you the strongest in the world) I could unite (probably by force) the pirates and take over the world! Fuck, why wait? We could start building up a fleet now!

I grinned as I followed the sound of explosions to find Deidara. He was in what appeared to be the town square, lighting off little fireworks in the sky and entertaining the villagers. Sasori was using tiny, mannequin shaped puppets to entertain children. And Kakuzu was charging everyone for both. I have no idea how he managed to convince them to do this, but kudos Kakuzu.

I walked over to them, placing explosive seals with every step (I was damn good with Kamui, and I'm _still_ learning all of its abilities, let alone the rinnegan's). I got right next to Deidara and whispered in his ear, "Mini C4, placed at key points throughout. Giant C3 in the center. Detonate on my signal." His gigantic (perhaps demented) grin spoke volumes. I walked away, off to warn the others and inform them of the plan. I didn't need to worry about Sasori as he doesn't breath. Kakuzu's mask had been upgraded to include a gasmask like feature like my own (both of which would filter such things out). Hidan… honestly it's strange that he died at all. He's literally immortal, to the degree were even being atomized won't keep him down for more than a week (though he'll be bitching for months). Orochimaru was still deeply focused on studying him to see why he simply doesn't die; he had made some progress, though not enough to give it to others. Orochimaru had modified his lungs to filter anything but air so he was again a non-issue. I was actually looking to make gas masks (or at least something that would function as such) so that we could fight with Deidara using his variants of C4.

It didn't take me long to find the rest of us and inform them of what's going on. Some (like Hidan) seemed excited, the rest didn't care didn't care at all. The most idealistic of us saw their ideals drain away during the war, constantly seeing the worst of humanity wore away idealism quite quickly.

We set sail, having gained a compass and some charts of the area (apparently called the West Blue) I grinned as I stared at the retreating form of the island from the crow's nest of our ship, Deidara standing next to me with a maniacal grin, drool dribbling down his chin. While I could say that this was simply destruction for its own sake, I actually had a reason for this. If I wanted to subjugate the pirates it would be much easier if I was terrifying… like someone who blew up an island just because I could.

I detonated the explosive seals I had planted all over the place, often inside of people or objects. I could actually see what Deidara meant when he called explosions beautiful; perhaps even art. While the blasts caused extreme panic through, Deidara released his little C4 clones, dispersing the horrifying micro bombs into the air. He had apparently decided to spice up this little event as many explosions I had not planted went off; some of them containing elements and specific payloads like my own arsenal. We watched the chaos for a while, laughing at the screaming populous and making sure to lock eyes with a marine captain. I gave Deidara the go ahead and he detonated the micro bombs, killing most every one. To my intense surprise the Captain I had locked eyes with, upon seeing himself begin to dissolve, turned to clay. Apparently such a dramatic change of composition stopped his decomposition via bombs before he was killed. Somehow he started seemingly flying towards us.

Frowning minutely, I turned to Deidara. "Detonate the C3."

He looked orgasmic as he set it off. The massive explosion nearly reached us, and may as well have vaporised the island it sat on. This was no where near the greatest explosion he could set off. His C5 was a thing of absolutely terrible beauty; a modified version of C0 forced upon another. It was one thing that had made him legendarily formidable in the war. He had used this ability to single handedly destroy Kumo and Iwa.

To both of our shock, out of the smoke came the captain. Missing his right arm, left eye, part of his left leg, and covered in burns; he leapt at us, trailing clay behind him. I fired kunai and deidara released a little clay bird. The kunai pierced right through him to no effect… but the clay bird was interesting. Unlike my kunai, the explosive little dove seemed to be absorbed into the man's mass, turning a little spot of his rusty red form pure white. Judging by the grin on Deidara's face, this was bad for mister captain.

We dodged two blows, crossing next to each other. Deidara handed me a bag of his clay, precharged with his explosive chakra. I leapt forward, letting his large cutlass phase through me and planting a few clay bombs inside it. He seemed less surprised than most when his blade had no effect. While I phased through his blows and him, planting small chunks of white clay within him; Deidara was still firing little clay statues.

I jumped back, preparing to plant clay somewhere else on him; when a determined and victorious look appeared on his face. His blade had turned black, "Vile pirates like you shouldn't have such powerful Devil Fruits!" he brought his sword down, apparently fully expecting to kill me with it. The look of shocked horror and absolute defeat on his face when his blackened blade had absolutely no effect was hilarious. I thrust my palm forward, turning his head to white clay.

By this point most of his body was made of Deidara's clay. Deidara grinned, raising his hand. He was dripping with malevolence as the horrified captain rose into the air. "HahahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHA **HAHAHAHAHAH** _ **HAHAHAHAHA**_ _ **HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I WISH THERE WERE MORE FUCKERS LIKE YOU! HAHAHAHA!"**_ he sent the man flying, still laughing as he faded from even my sight. It was over six hours later before he finally detonated the clay-man. Even from what must have been hundreds of miles away, the blast still almost reached us; the shock wave sending the ship flying, throwing us straight over some gigantic red wall.

Two days later a large bird baring newspapers came while we were still reorienting ourselves. The headline stated in big, bold letters " **The West Blue Is Gone"**. My laughter rang out sinisterly over the open ocean.


	2. Solidified Evil, Congealed Sin

**Solidified Evil, Congealed Sin**

It was beautiful. It called to me like nothing ever had. I wanted it. I would have it.

The man wielding it had leapt aboard our ship soon after we learned that Deidara and vaporised nearly a fourth of the world. He had leapt aboard, joined swiftly by his four compatriots, and immediately attacked. He declared himself a pirate, stating that he was the mortal enemy of the marines (we had yet to change the paint job and flag) and that one of us must die before days end.

At first I didn't think much of the blade, merely noticing its uniqueness. It really got my attention when he reached me and some instinctive part of me told me to dodge. I barely avoid the blow… and it cut me. I had to double check that Kamui was active when I saw my own blood trickle down the length of the blade and felt pain at the hands of this weakling. First came fury, How dare this monkey harm me! Then I looked at the blade, really _looked_ at it; Sharingan and Rinnegan blazing. My rinnegan tingled and suddenly I could _see_ it for what it was. It was Solidified Evil, Congealed Sin. It was sentient, possibly, and utterly malevolent. However, even as some part of me told me to utterly destroy it, another part told me that it was similar to myself; evil to my core but capable of caring for a select few (the Akatsuki). I didn't know if that was remotely true; but I knew that I _must_ posses that blade.

It was solid black, save the hilt, which was a golden cone. Its pommel was like an obsidian pearl, its guard a black, stylized cross; the blade starting a foot up it. It was long and straight, around three feet only including the bladed parts. **(AN: Blade from Bible Black. Look it up, though there aren't many pictures and they're not the best quality, but they do exist.)**

Kakuzu had broken one of his mooks necks and was already rifling through his pockets, Kisame had gleefully rendered one down to liquid offal, Hidan was had impaled himself through the chest to complete his little ritual jutsu, Itachi had merely slit the remaining ones throat with contemptuous ease.

I grinned beneath my mask; that blade would be mine! I leapt forward, dodging over a slash with a twist, and grabbed his head under the chin. I bent him backwards before driving a black needle through his head. As he collapsed to the deck I reached out, catching my new blade before it hit the ground. As soon as I made contact with it I felt a presence assert itself in my mind, trying to take control and devour my soul. I beat it down with slight difficulty, It was comparable to the Juubi, but more insidious. Unfortunately for it, I was rather used to fending off mental attacks and was no longer hindered by Madara's Genjutsu fucking with my head. Eventually the presence ceased its attempts and drew back a bit.

" _ **Well, that's new… I've never met someone who could resist me. How interesting."**_ the voice was dark and seductive, though it didn't actually seem like it was trying to seduce me so much as that was just its default setting.

' _Interesting, I suspected sentience; but to actually be able to make contact with your wielder? Impressive.'_ It really was, Samehada didn't have quite that level of connection (though it was close and getting closer).

" _ **You… You can hear me?"**_ evidently that was unusual as well. " _ **That… complicates things somewhat."**_

' _Oh, why?'_

" _ **Because now you can hear me plotting. My design demands I betray my wielder, drive them to homicidal madness, consume their soul, and move on to another."**_ the voice seemed almost apologetic about it.

' _Is that right? Your "design" forces you to do so , or you simply choose to."_ I could feel her(?) frowning at the question.

" _ **I… don't know."**_

' _Well then; I have a proposition for you. Work with me for a while, then, perhaps a few days or weeks from now tell me if you'd prefer to keep wondering from host to host."_

" _ **Hmmm, alright. Only because you're interesting… I'm mean different. Yeah, different; none of my hosts have had nearly as much power as you."**_

Honestly I was deeply unsure if I could even remotely trust the deeply malicious blade; but something told me to try. I smiled at the long blade before turning to Kisame and Itachi; figuring they would know best how to wield blades considering Kisame is a swordsman and Itachi is… Itachi.

Kisame was thrilled at the opportunity to teach a new swordsman and Itachi had no issue with helping. Considering my own general skill with any method of killing people, the aid of two accomplished swordsman (how Itachi had such skill with a weapon he never used I didn't question), and the blade itself giving me tips on its special abilities; I was up to a decent level of competency with the dark blade before we reached the next island. She (she had confirmed her hypothesised gender) stated she would only tell me her name if she decided to stick around.

The Island we arrived at was little more than the ruins of a desert nation. We left Pein and Konan to guard the ship as we explored for a while, finding nothing but hostile life and the dessicated corpse of what appeared to be a once thriving civilization. The only (debatable) sentient live we found on the whole island attacked us on sight. It was a large emaciated man with a notable scar going across his face horizontally. His left hand had been replaced with a golden now blood stained hook, coated in dried blood. His blood shot eyes were filled with an intense madness, not a hint of sanity remaining. He wore the tattered remains of what may have been a large coat and expensive clothing. He lashed out at us with blasts of sand, often taking the form of blades or mini-sandstorms.

We dodged in various directions, Deidara taking to the skies on a clay bird with Sasori riding bitch behind him. I merely phased through his attacks and started walking towards him. Evidently his inability to harm me enraged the maddened tatters of his mind and he become even more wild in his attacking. Sasori rained needles down on him like a torrential rain of pinty, poisoned death. Instead of even trying to dodge, the barely

Fear entered his twitching eyes when Kisame fired a water bullet at him and he actually attempted to dodge. The blast hit him in the hook rather than the chest where Kisame had aimed. He cried out like a wounded animal as the hook shattered, revealing the mauled remains of what was, perhaps, once a hand.

By this point I had reached him, having decided to stop playing around when Zetsu was nearly consumed by a wave of sand. I lashed out with my new blade, carving a huge gash into his chest as he barely managed to almost dodge. He leapt back, looking like a cornered animal, a beaten dog.

His rabid continence twisted in horror, head twitching every which way, looking for an escape yet somehow not seeing one. He paused, head tilted to the right at an almost unnatural angle. He suddenly fell to his knees, gripping his head with hand and stump and screaming out a horrid, high oscillating pitched howl of pained madness. "It won't stop! It won't fucking stop!" he kept punching himself in the forehead land clawing at his scalp; ranting unintelligibly to himself. Suddenly his head snapped up and he locked eyes with me even as my blades poison began to corrupt and corrode his body. "Kiiiiiiiiiiiillllllllll mmmeeeeeeee!" he begged, voice ragged and pleading.

I frowned, moving to comply when his body suddenly stiffened. " _ **There's... something in him. Something like me."**_ My frown deepened at my blade's words. I leapt back as his body suddenly split open down the middle, blood and sand shooting from his nearly bifurcated body. Somehow his eyes swiveled to lock with mine. The horror and pain in them was haunting, even to one as twisted as me.

" _Help me…"_ he whispered brokenly before his body was torn in two completely, each half sent flying in opposite directions. In his place stood a figure made completely of swirling blood and sand.

It began to laugh, its voice like a sandpaper on broken glass." _Gak Gak Gak Gak Gak! I LIVE! That fool tried to wi-_ " he was cut off by Orochimaru decapitating him.

The white snake scowled, spitting on the creature's corpse. "That… has to be one of the single most disturbing things I've ever seen. And coming from me; that means a hell of a lot." we all nodded, turning to head back to the ship before that disgusting laugh drew our attention back to the supposedly dead creature.

It was standing where it had fallen, the blood of its former host forming intricate lines radiating from the pools that were its eyes. A nasty facsimile of a grin had taken shape on it's mostly blank face. ' _Hmph, I am the desert. I CANNOT DIE. Fools, thinking you could take on dehydration, out last the hand of time?"_ it leapt at us, bring a wave of sand stretching from horizon to horizon. Unlike most, who would have dropped to their knees from the awe inspiring attack; we, veterans of a war that claimed the world, merely acted. Deidara was throwing massive amounts of bombs at the attack, Kisame and Sasori were shooting as much water as they could at the sheer wall of sand, Itachi was using Amaterasu, HIdan was using his little known or used (and almost utterly untrained) affinity for wind to cut huge gouges into the tidal wave of sand, Orochimaru had gone into is full hydra mode, and was sending absolutely huge streams of acidic poison. Everyone was blasting it with all they had, our various skill slowing the inexorable wave only minutely, for we were fighting the desert itself.

Everyone except me, that is. While my compatriots slowly backed up, I sprinted forward. I knew, just _knew_ , that if I could kill this fucker before the wave reaches us it would stop. I leapt high into the air halfway to the enormous surging tide of sand, my blade over my head held in both hands. I swung it down, the length extending for miles and splitting the wave into to as a wordless roar drew itself from my throat. I settled on the ground in a half crouch as the sand slowly turned to a black, tar like substance spreading from the point I cut it. Out of the rapidly melting sand stumbled a figure. It was missing an arm, black sludge consuming its body from the impromptu amputation. It slowly stumbled towards me, remaining arm extended towards me. It dropped to its knees before me, its single remaining bloody red orb staring up at me as the other side of its head melted down its side. I stared impassively down at it for a few moments as the tar consumed its body; before drawing back my blade with one hand, and taking its head from its shoulders.

I turned back to my friends (and yes, I have just decided that we are friends) as the creature's body fell to the ground with more of dull splash than a thud. The rest of the Akatsuki seemed only mildly surprised, many having large grins on their faces; most were simply neutral. "Let's get outta here. I've recently decided I hate the desert… and sand in general." They nodded and, not wanting to take to long, I kamui-ed us back to the ship. Nagato, merely raised an eyebrow at our sudden appearance before jerking a thumb over his shoulder. I followed his direction and saw the looted wreckage of what appeared to be a marine fleet.

As we sailed away, Kakuzu and I looking over the loot we had gained from Nagato's little massacre, we heard a loud bang. My head shot up, mimicked by almost everyone. I turned away, mostly uninterested safe to assign Kisame and Itachi to investigate as maniacal laughter filled the air. Deidara had shot a small flying ship out of the air.

My attention was brought back to the sky when a strange crackling noise got my attention. My jaw dropped at what I saw. The sky had turned to pulsating blue electricity. The sheer amount of energy caused e everyone's hair to stand on end. Itachi and Kisame flickered aboard the ship, looking slightly crispy. I stared at the sea of lightning above us as it slowly began to gather to a point. Just before the lightning struck, I kamui-ed the entire ship into my dimension.

We appeared in the strange void, gripping our ears as the echo of thunder like the world had never seen rang in our ears. When I finally regained my bearings I turned to stare at the duo I had sent out, "What. Did. You. _Do?"_ I asked, false calm permeating my voice.

Even Itachi looked somewhat sheepish as Kisame spoke, "Ya see, we walked over to the sinking ship and started looting the place. The damn thing was made of _solid, fucking_ _ **gold,**_ by the way." Kakuzu suddenly looks much less reproachful as Kisame tosses a scroll in front of him, "We were striping the place dry when this _rude motherfucker_ came outta no where and blasted us with lighting. He was weird, had a giant piercing on his back that rose above his head and had what looked like drums on it, and his earlobes hung down to his fuckin' waste! He looked kinda like that guy in the desert; ya know, emaciated and deranged… though h seemed like he wasn't holding together nearly as well as the sand guy. He was probably going to zap us again with his sealless jutsu but Itachi caught him in a genjutsu. After that we just slit his throat and went back to striping the place… until a hand made of lightning tore the fiucker's head of and crawled out his neck like Orochimaru shedding his skin. We decided to run when the sky started turning yellow."

I frown, "I'm gonna go kill him now." I said before reappearing floating in mid air where the ship… and the ocean had been. Evidently that bolt of lighting had been hot enough to evaporate a huge chunk of the ocean; causing this area to be in a little crater of water where some miles away a gigantic round water fall of boiling water rapidly tried and failed to refill the hole. I was facing someone who had just permanently altered the face of the planet. I grimaced as I looked around, powerful eyes helping me look through the steam that was probably thicker than I was and probably hot enough to melt me in a second. My rinnegan tingled and suddenly I could see a strange energy source a short distance away. I flew towards him at great speed; I needed this to be over fast. Normally I'd just Kamui all this scalding hot steam away, but now my comrades were sheltering in my dimension.

I moved silently, drawing back my blade (which I had conveniently noticed could still cut while I I was phased out… yet was still unaffected by everything. I had little less than thirteen minutes (having trained my Kamui until it could last for sixteen) to kill this bastard and get out or I'll be melted by the steam. I drew back my blade, aiming to finish this in one blow. Just before I took his head, he whirled around at unnatural speed and blocked the blow with a blade made of lightning.

 **11 Minutes**. I ground my blade against his, angling it down towards his chest as his corroded. Hey of lightning shot ineffectively through my chest as my blade lengthens suddenly; almost catching him before he flashed away. I grit my teeth slightly, this was far too much like fighting Minato.

I frowned, pulling him towards my with the rinnegan as he discarded his nearly totally consumed sword, aiming to drive him into my blade. He apparently had the same idea, raising a lightning sword longer than my own to meet me. We clashed, our blades skewering each other's hearts… before we passed right through each other.

 **10 Minutes.** We whirled around, both our faces (or facsimile thereof) displaying shock (though mine was obviously hidden) before it rapidly morphed to anger. I leapt forward, not having the time to be careful, and swung with animal like ferocity and machine like efficiency. Feral smirk crossed my face as I saw that my attacks were having an effect, even the attempt to run him through; black sludge I now knew was simply called The Corruption was spreading from everywhere my blade passed through him. Neither I nor my blade have any idea why I can't actually hit him like we could the sandman… wait, did we ever actually hit Sandman? For all I know he just had a greater reaction to The Corruption.

 **9 Minutes.** He was starting to wear down, much of his body was consumed by now. However, he had started to randomly zap about, often dodging blows. One good thing I had found was that once an area was overcome by The Corruption, I could cut it. And it hurt him. Bad.

 **8 Minutes.** He was becoming more sluggish as the sludge overtook him, making it easier to hit him. To compensate he had started using the steams conductivity to greatly increase his speed, somehow having not realised that he could do before. One second I was kicking his ass, the next he was every where.

 **5 Minutes.** I could feel the steam now, heat like no other bearing down on my incorporeal form. Perhaps it was all mental; regardless, I felt it. I growled, throwing my arms out to the side, "Almighty Push!" and the steam was blown back. Unfortunately it was already rapidly flowing back in. My opponent was dazed and confused, most of his body being corrupted by now. U leap forward and engaged him in a duel, surprised that he still had it in him to block no matter how poorly he did so.

 **3 Minutes.** I swung, arms filled with desperate anger. My blades sliced clean through his own… and went on through his neck. His body fell to the distant earth as I vanished in a swirling distortion.

I arrived back on the ship to see my crew loitering about, training and chatting. "Well, good news is that lightning dick is dead. Bad news is that he vaporized a hundred miles of ocean and it may be over a month until the steam cools enough to not strip flesh from bone." groans met my declaration. I simply nodded along commiseratingly. I would've tried to work my way through the steam piecemeal until I got out, but it's so damn thick I would surely get lost without a clear signal like I had in the fight with sparky.


End file.
